1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle cockpit with a head-up display, a transverse beam and an end wall for separating the cockpit from the engine compartment. The invention also relates to a method for fitting or installing such a vehicle cockpit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Head-up displays are used in vehicles to provide the driver with additional information during driving. In head-up displays, for example in passenger cars, data and items of information are projected directly onto the front windshield, so that the driver does not need to take his eyes off the traffic to see the projected information. To this end, an image is produced by a light source under the instrument panel, i.e. a projector, directed via a plurality of mirrors and projected upward onto the front windshield, from where it is reflected in the direction of the driver and can thus be seen by him. On account of the complex optical processes, the head-up display needs to be kept at a specific angle to the windshield since even slight deviations lead to a strong optical displacement or distortion of the projected image. Above all, the head-up display must not execute oscillations with respect to the front windshield during operation of the vehicle and the jolts and vibrations which inevitably occur in the process, which oscillations would have a direct effect on the readability of the image, i.e. the head-up display must be held precisely in its relative position even during the operation of the vehicle. To avoid relative movements, it should therefore be connected to the front windshield as directly as and via the shortest path possible. In known solutions, the head-up display is for this reason attached to the end wall separating the passenger compartment from the engine compartment or directly to the lower frame of the windshield. Since the head-up display requires a relatively large physical space, only the region in front of the multi-purpose instrument between the transverse beam and the front termination of the vehicle cockpit provides a suitable installation site. It has been found that the known solutions are unsuitable for a modular design of the cockpit, in which a plurality of technical components and structural parts are assembled outside the vehicle to form units, which are then inserted in the vehicle; for example, the multi-purpose instrument, the passenger airbag and other components are fitted on the transverse beam such that it can be inserted in the vehicle as a module. This is because generally the head-up display is fitted, for accessibility reasons, before the transverse beam is installed. Another problem with the prior art is that generally the complete instrument panel needs to be dismantled to repair or replace a defective head-up display, which entails a very high complexity in the case of repairs.